WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY sis adviser, professor LupingYu," she says. He taught her the proper approach to in dependent research and how to apply an interdisciplinary approach toward prob lem solving, skills that serve her well now. Shortly after graduation in 1995, Bao joined Bell Labs as a principal investiga N LATE 2 0 Ο O, SCIENTISTS FROM BELL the shining star. Science chose her work on tor in the polymer and organic materials Labs and Ε Ink Corp. wrote their en molecular-scale transistors as "The Break department. try in the science and technology his through of 2001," and last year she received Bao's department is led by Eisa Reichtory books with their creation of the the "Best of the Best" R&D 100 Award. manis, who Bao now considers a mentor world's first all-plastic electronic pa This year, the Royal Society of Chemistry and role model. "Reichmanis exempli per. The new medium bends like paper and will present Bao with its 2002 fies what a successful woman reads like paper, yet can be refreshed and Beilby Prize & Medal. She holds should be: director of materi altered like a computer screen. five commercial patents and has als research in Bell Labs, ACS president-elect, and a caring One of the team members was Zhenan more than 25 pending. She has mother of four children," Bao Bao, distinguished member of the techni also given more than 60 invited says. "She has always encour cal staff at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs lectures and sits on the advisory CELEBRATING aged me, and everyone else un in Murray Hill, N.J. Her contribution to board for Advanced Functional 75 YEARS der her supervision, to be the the project was the development of high- Materials. OF THE ACS best they can be." performance polymer semiconductors, The road to Murray Hill be WOMEN which enabled the fabrication of the first gins thousands of miles away. Women in science—partic CHEMISTS' all-printed plastic transistors that are used Born in Nanjing, China, in 1970, COMMITTEE ularly young women—need to in the electronic paper. be confident, Bao says. "If you Bao is the daughter oftwo science The team was honored for the achieve professors at Nanjing University Her father possess this confidence, you will learn from ment through the American Chemical taught physics and her mother taught both the ups and the downs, and you will Society's 2002 Award for Team Innova chemistry, and the pair introduced Bao to eventually get the results that exhilarate the world of science. you." She adds, "Be persistent, never give tion (C&EN, Jan. 7, They are still among up, and be optimistic." page 34). her strongest influ Bao does not believe that she has en Bao, however, is ences and sources of countered any gender-related obstacles currently working on support. "Even today, during her own career, a fortune she cred a second, larger con we spend hours talking its to her Bell Labs colleagues, including tribution to science: on the phone about Edwin A. Chandross, recently retired, At age 31, she has be the research projects "who has so often encouraged me and come a role model for we are doing." young women chem showered me with his wisdom." She does ists by excelling in her Bao followed her believe, however, that such obstacles could field. mother's lead and be overcome through open discussion and Her research objec spent three years at hard work. tive, as she describes it, There are certain advantages to being a Nanjing University as "is to adopt a chemical a chemistry major. female scientist, she adds, "such as how approach to control In 1990, she trans successful women tend to be more visible ling molecular interac ferred to the Universi because there are fewer female scientists, tion, self-organization, ty of Illinois, Chicago. and there are opportunities created specif and electronic and op Six months later, the ically for women." tical properties." Her University of Chica Her outlook for women in the sciences work in organic mate go accepted her into is positive, and she doesn't see any large rials has resulted in its graduate program challenges ahead. "On the contrary," she landmark discoveries in high-performance without completion of a bachelor's degree. says, "I expect the issue of the scientist's organic semiconductors, including the first What she did have, however, were two uni gender to fade gradually into oblivion. And high-performance, air-stable n-channel versity awards for her exceptional work in my sincere gratitude goes out to all the semiconductor. chemistry from Nanjing. women who have actively worked to elim Organic materials are useful as active Once her master's degree was com inate such gender-related issues, as they components for transistors, light-emitting pleted in 1993, Bao began doctoral work have made the path I am traveling much diodes, lasers, and solar cells, and Bao be in materials chemistry at the University smoother." lieves her work could play an important of Chicago. "The person who first intro role when the size of these devices shrinks duced me to the fascinating world of This profile was written by CèEN Contributto the nanometer scale. polymers and, more importantly, gave me ingEditor Kevin MacDermott, aformer asACS is not the only organization to spot the necessary training, was my Ph.D. the- sistant editor in C&EMsACS News Department.
TAKING AN EARLY LEAD
At 31, Bell Labs's Zhenan Bao sets a strong pace for young women to follow
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